2015 Currency Wars Year-To-Date Summary: 13 Rate Cuts, 5 Rate Hikes

For those keeping track of currency wars around the globe, 2015 - a year in which two central banks, those of Switzerland and Singapore have already admitted defeat, is shaping up as nothing short of historic. As DB's summarizes: just about 31 countries have, in less than a month, eased in the form of 13 mostly "surprise" rate cuts, while just 5 have tightened monetary policy.

From DB:

Yesterday we highlighted that 9 Central Bank have eased policy this year. However we've subsequently learnt there are actually 13. Here is the full list: Singapore, Europe, Switzerland, Denmark, Canada, India, Turkey, Egypt, Romania, Peru, Albania, Uzbekistan and Pakistan. Given that the ECB covers 19 countries you could actually say its 31 countries. On the other hand we think 5 countries have tightened monetary policy including Brazil, Armenia, Krygyzstan, Mongolia and Belarus. Overnight the RBNZ kept rates on hold although attention in the Asia-Pacific region will move to the RBA decision next week.

As DB concludes, "who is next is the big question, and can the Fed continue to try to prime the market for rate hikes when the rest of the world is easing?" Judging by yesterday's market reaction, the answer for now is year.